Moneyweb reports that Nedbank reduced the number of staff employed in its retail and business banking (RBB) segment by nearly 500 over the past year, with most of this reduction happening in the first six months of 2016.  

In percentage terms, this reduction was modest at 2.3% of total headcount in the division (now 20,910).  This “headcount optimisation”, as the bank terms it, has not required a formal section 189 (retrenchment) process.  Instead, it is primarily being achieved through natural attrition, which the bank says runs at about 10% per annum.  In other words, certain newly-vacated roles are simply not being replaced.  The jobs are being lost against the backdrop of increased digitization, which is driving more self-service from customers.  Teller activity, for example, is down 6% from the same period last year.  The amount of self-service deposits as a percentage of the total has more than doubled in the past two years.

• Read this report by Hilton Tarrant in full at Moneyweb

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